


A Shield Still Stained

by TalesFromTheCycle



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:07:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26242384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalesFromTheCycle/pseuds/TalesFromTheCycle
Summary: A "Vengeful" side story featuring the pasts of Hela and Clair at the beginning of their career as adventurers.





	1. Part 1

The winding paths of caverns beneath the surface of Duramas twisted into an unforgiving maze of darkness and confusion for all those unprepared. Yet for those who knew their way through the land below the surface, the navigation back to where the sun shone was a rewarding and glorious trek. Such treks were commonplace for adventurers, yet the splendor of the crimson sun always shone with a welcoming warmth that never dulled no matter how many times it was experienced.

  
This glorious feeling of sunlight gracing their presence once more, that was what coursed through the souls of the pair of adventurers as they stepped out of the darkness into the early morning light. Hela, the demifai knight, made the first step back into the light, with her armor clattering with every step and a towering bag on her back. The adventurer smiled with glee as she looked over the next stop in her journey.

Though the sun’s light was visible, Hela was still beneath the surface at the bottom of a long running chasm. She took in the splendid view of the town built within the chasm, a seamless blend of human and night elven architecture that stretched throughout the chasm floor.

Shortly following Hela’s arrival, her partner, Clair, pushed herself out from the cavern path with an annoyed expression painted across her face. She carried a far smaller backpack than Hela, yet Clair quickly threw it aside to alleviate her pained body from the trek.

“I swear,” Clair choked out through exasperated gasps, “If I see a single teleportation circle in use at this guild, I’m burning down the place.” 

“Oh come on, the caves may have been a little steep but the journey is half the fun,” Hela giggled as she picked up Clair’s pack with relative ease, “Now that we’re on the surface, it’s all smooth sailing from here.” She said while taking another look at the town they stood on the edge of. The walls of the chasm were decorated in a beautiful split imagery. On the western wall, an elegant set of rising stairs was carved into the stone for ease of access back to the surface. Contrasting to the eastern wall, left to the whims of nature and life as vines and overgrowth with patches of gardenry attended to by citizens of the town below.

Clair picked herself up from her exhausted state and took part in observing the town they had stumbled upon. As much as Clair tried to appreciate the beauty of the place, she couldn’t help but notice the shadows lurking beneath its skin. Behind the overgrowth she saw arrow slits carved into the walls, and to the sides of the town’s roads she saw trenches filled with water to mask the purpose they once held as defensive stations. 

All Clair could see in this place was what was once a fortress. She could only see a cruel reminder of the wars fought between those below and above the surface. As reassuring as it was to see the peaceful conversion of the town, the bloody history still struck a chord with her.

“You just gonna stand there?” Hela snapped Clair out of her own thoughts, “We can probably rest here a bit before trekking onwards.” Hela smiled with her innocent fangs bared which eased Clair from her uncomfortable surroundings.  “Good, I need some time to adjust to the sunlight for a bit anyways.” Clair brushed off the thoughts in her head as she walked alongside her team leader into the town. Though after what she said, Hela began to snicker to herself, “What could you possibly find so funny?”

“It just always gets me that you have such a problem with sunlight when you’re a priestess of light itself,” Hela held her hand in front of her mouth as she struggled to keep back laughter, “You’d think you’d have a resistance built up or something.”

Clair scowled as her cheeks blushed as much as her dark violet face could, “I’ll have you know that my sensitivity to sunlight is far less severe than other lowborn night elves might experience,” She turned her gaze away from Hela in a stuck up and theatrical manner, “I have an impeccable resistance to the light, it just so happens that my heritage counteracts such talents.”

Hela giggled to herself as they walked through the outskirts of the town. Market stalls were being set up by merchants and the western staircase was slowly filled with more and more people both entering and leaving the chasm for their daily duties.

“You know I can see why Wright has so much fun teasing you now.” Hela said quietly but just enough for Clair to hear. Prompting the night elf to ball her fists and silently gesturing threateningly from behind the far taller half devil.

The banter of the two adventurers was interrupted with the sound of clattering and commotion echoing out from the market behind them.

“Thief!” The fervent yells of a merchant carried only that in his otherwise unintelligible foreign speech. From the direction of the incident, Clair caught a glimpse of a young human rushing out of the scene with his shirt wrapped around the stolen goods.

“So early in the morning, don’t tell me we’re getting involved,” Clair mumbled with an annoyed tone and waited for Hela’s inevitable response, “Captain?” Clair took a look around and found Hela had already moved out in taking action, “How did she- ugh.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Clair began to search for her partner.

It didn’t take long for Clair to home in on Hela’s location. Her heavy armor left obvious tracks at times, and it led Clair right up to Hela at the mouth of a narrow alley. She was holding the thief in question by the collar with a scattered pile of jewelry and coin at his feet.

“You acted quickly.” Clair announced her presence as she approached her captain.   


“I just knew where to cut him off is all,” Hela said quietly before kneeling down to the thief. With a hand still a hold of him, she grabbed one of the pieces of jewelry off the ground and inspected it. She then looked into the eyes of the thief, “What did you plan to do with these? You don’t bear the look of an experienced criminal with access to a fence.”   


“I can’t say, I’ll get in trouble.” The young human looked away from Hela’s gaze.   


“It sounds like you’re stealing for someone else,” Hela said with a calming yet unsettling knowledge of the situation. She took her hand off the thief and removed her emblem from her armor and showed it to him, “I’m with an adventurer’s guild, and if you’ll let me, I can help you.”    


Clair simply watched in silence as Hela connected with the thief, peer to peer. The young thief began to break down, holding back tears as he explained the situation he had been wrapped in. Hela calmed him down and eased him, while also gathering information on what was really going on.   


Beneath the mask of cheeriness that Hela always put up, Clair saw through it now more than usual. The heart of an experienced adventurer painted in a solemn regret. Clair wondered why now was Hela’s true self showing itself, but as she looked at how she handled the young thief, it began to make sense.   


  
_13 years ago_

 _  
__  
_ Tensions rose as the thunderous sounds of clashing steel and vicious combat echoed down the dimly lit tunnels of an underground hideout. The footsteps of a young night elf were drowned out by these sounds as he clutched a hooded cloak over him with a bow held firmly in his other hand. The boy rushed down the tunnels until he reached a wider expanse where more of his comrades gathered.  


They worked tirelessly to load tightly closed boxes onto carts and carriages in a mad fury. Every one of them carried a look of fear and desperation as they performed these tasks without hesitation.   


“The Drawwtian guard,” The cloaked elf gasped through deep and dry breaths, “They’re tearing through the whole place. What are we to do?” He began to choke over his words as he feared the consequences approaching him.   


“Calm down lad,” A gray scaled reptir pulled a tarp off one of the carts and motioned inside, “Go on, you’ve still got a long life ahead o’ ya.”   


“I can’t just leave, I-” The young elf’s pleas were cut off by a silver flash whizzing past his vision before reaching its destination. A steel hatchet was flung from the tunnel behind him that lodged itself between the neck and shoulder of the reptir. The reptir stumbled back to his knees, desperating gripping at the weapon, before finally collapsing with a thud of dead weight against the cold ground.   


The rest of the fallen reptir’s companions readied themselves with whatever they could. Be it daggers or clubs they prepared their last stand against the deadly force that approached them. What stepped out from the tunnel was a titan clad, head to toe in piercing silver armor, with a shield in hand as they drew a longsword out from a scabbard at their side.    


The young elf scurried out behind his comrades as he knocked an arrow on his bowstring, desperately trying to keep his aim steady as the knight lunged forward and weaved from man to man. Their shield danced between parrying the half hearted and untrained blows and swings that each man threw against the knight. In between the knight’s defensive dance, their blade carved effortlessly through the skin and muscle of each unfortunate soul that stood in their path, downing corpses at their feet like rain to the earth.   


With tears clouding the eyes of the hooded elf, he loosed his arrow at the knight. Their shield effortlessly blocked the incoming arrow as the knight was left with no one standing between them and the one that shot them. In a blink of an eye, the knight charged forward with their shield pinning the hooded archer against the wall. The elf’s cloak fell to his feet, he gasped out in pain as the blood stained shield crushed his chest in. The knight raised their sword up to his neck and hesitated as the boy coughed out what attempted to be a plea.   


The knight froze as their visor looked into the boy’s eyes. Eventually, they turned their gaze and sliced their blade through his throat, letting them collapse to the ground.    


Silence.   


Silence befell the small outlet as the knight was only left with their own thoughts and the sound of their exhausted breath. This silence was broken swiftly as the knight heard magic being casted behind them. Without enough time to react, a bolt of flame struck the knight’s helm out of nowhere, forcing them to hit the wall as they tried to recuperate from the hit.    


A demiserpus girl dressed in rags held her wand high as she prepared another spell for the knight. Yet before her spell could be completed, an identical blade to the knight’s pierced through her chest. The sword pulled out from the demiserpus woman as she collapsed to the ground to accompany the rest of the bodies littering the area.   


“Hela, my dear,” A boisterous voice sang out from behind the fallen demiserpus, a night elf dressed in the garb of a Hidden Star adventurer slowly approached his friend, “Really living up to the ‘Crimson Shield’ title aren’t you?” He said while stepping over the bodies separating the two.   


The knight composed herself from the magic that hit her as she picked up her fallen and now dented helm. Hela’s gray unscarred face shined through unscathed from the bloodshed she caused. Her standout black devil horns were still short and unnoticeable in her waves of disheveled fiery hair.   


“Not in the mood for it, Sirus,” Hela grumbled as she tossed her helm aside for the time being, “If I had the time to subdue and arrest I would, but I don’t want to waste any time letting the operative escape.”   


Sirus circled over to the carriage the men were trying to load, “We can’t be too far, looks like all their goods were stored around here,” Sirus stepped back over to Hela and raised his blade to Hela with it pointed upwards.   


“Let’s go then. One step closer to fixing this city.” Hela smiled as she raised her blade to Sirus, clanging the identical blades together before they left as a pair deeper into the hideout.

Just as Sirus predicted, the operative wasn’t much farther into the underground hideout. The night elf man in business clothing crouched over a small fire with documents over documents burning within the flame. Once his eyes met that of the adventurers stepping into his makeshift office, his hands immediately rose to the air as he signaled for surrender. Hela immediately took action in locking the man’s arm behind his back and holding him still.   


“Smart,” Sirus noted as he stepped over the pile of burning papers, “Saving the identity those you work for I assume? Praying they’ll still keep you in favor after you’re thrown behind bars?” His voice remained monotone to drive fear into the criminal operative. Despite Sirus’ questions, the man remained silent, “Don’t you think it’ll be easier if you ‘fessed up? You’ll probably get let free if you just spill what you know.” Even then, the man’s lips were sealed as sweat poured down from his brow.   


“He’s not gonna talk Sirus,” Hela said while still binding the man, “We should just hand him off to the guards and move on from there.”   


“After all your investigations? You worked too hard to get here just for it to be a dead end,” Sirus muttered under his breath as he drew his sword and waved it in front of the man’s neck, 

“Talk. Tell us who is funding your little operation or your head tumbles to the floor.   


“Sirus!” Hela hissed at her partner but she held her grip on the man firm just in case, before she could protest any further, he shot a fierce glare that silenced her. Hela shared in his desire to make sure the case still kept warm, but something felt wrong about all this to her.   


Even though Hela disagreed with his actions, they worked. The man began to confess the identities of those above him. He even went on to list off some noble houses responsible for funding the crime operations in Eil’Drawwt. All this while Sirus’ sword was firmly pressed against his neck and Hela held him defenseless. The details echoed off Hela as she was lost in her own head about everything that had happened, all the blood she spilled just trying to get to this point.

“That’s all I know,” The man finally coughed up which struck Hela out from her own thoughts, “Please let me go, sir, I’ll go into custody quietly!”   


With the information gathered, Hela reached beneath her armor for a set of shackles on her belt. She began to apply them until she was interrupted by Sirus’ blade piercing through the man’s heart. Hela released her grip in shock as the corpse collapsed to the ground.   


“Sirus! What the hell is wrong with you!” Hela screamed in her partner’s face as she desperately tried to piece together his motives.   


“Hela, calm down,” Sirus’s voice was raised but he tried to ease the situation, taking a dagger off the man’s desk and placing it where the corpse’s hand was, “You heard the names he listed off. His organization is backed by the most influential families in the city state. He was either bound to get tortured for betraying them, or worse, made a free man with his sentence paid off.” Sirus paced the room while wiping his blade of the blood that stained it before sheathing it.   


“That doesn’t give you or I the right to kill the man,” Hela refuted, “He was unarmed and defenseless. That was a murder, plain and simple.”   


“Are you listening to yourself, Hela? The man was a criminal, he was nothing but the scum of Duramas. When you acted on this hunch months ago, no one would stand with you. No one would believe that the crime that plagued Eil’Drawwt was organized in any way. I believed you. I believed that we could clean up Eil’Drawwt and make it a place to be proud of again,” Sirus shook his head and motioned towards the body, “You can’t just scrub at stains while the muddy shoes still walk the floor. I know what I did was wrong, but it’s for the greater good.”   


Hela struggled to say anything back. She desperately wanted to make Eil’Drawwt a better place, and she knew that sacrifices in morality had to be made. Her fists tightened in a desperate struggle before she gave in and let go.   


“Just,” Hela paused, “At least let me know when you’re going to do something like that again.” Hela felt sick to her stomach even allowing this to get past her. Yet if it meant achieving her goal, she had to be willing to make less than desirable choices to get there.  
  
  
_13 years later_

  
“Are you from this town?” Hela ruffled the young thief’s hair and reached into her bag.   


“No, I live in a surface village not far from here.” The boy responded while wiping tears from his face to regain his composure.   


“Good, stay there for the next few days and my partner and I will handle everything, alright?” Hela pulled a handful of packages out from her bag, “I know it’s not much, but this should be enough for your little siblings for the time being right?”   


“That’s plenty ma’am! Thank you so much.” The boy bowed and hurried off to the stairs on the western wall of the chasm.    


“Well you heard the situation,” Hela said to Clair as she packed up the retrieved jewelry into a sack and stood up off from her kneeled position, “Looks like there’s a minor crime ring picking up around these parts. If we’re careful, we can uproot it safely within 3 days time.”   


“I assume you want me to contact the guild and let them know we’ll be late then.” Clair grumbled as she pulled a yellow crystal from a side pouch. She paused briefly before smiling at Hela, 

“You know I was thinking, you’ve changed a lot over the years haven’t you.”   


Hela looked at Clair with confusion before finally smiling back, “I hope you mean for the better. I hope I wasn’t too rude to you earlier was I?”  
Clair laughed under her breath in response, “Yes Hela, for the better. How about we focus on returning that jewelry first.”   


“Shoot!” Hela snapped to attention, “Thank you for reminding me! I’ll be right back!” Hela ran off to the market with the clutter of her armor signalling her arrival as she stomped onwards. 

Clair simply stood and watched as her captain hurried off. She knew that Hela’s heart grew heavy seeing young lives fall into crime. And she knew the guilt that Hela felt just looking into their eyes. The weight that her captain carried on her heart is what made her radiance that much more brilliant in the face of trial and hardship.    


Clair knew Hela had changed a lot, and yet, it was still her. That was what made her heroism that much more admirable.


	2. Part 2

At the bottom of the vast valley where the sun slowly disappeared over the canyon walls, the town remained bustling and busy despite the day drawing to a close. While merchants and townsfolk passed through the roads of the valley settlement, Hela was seated at the first step of the portico to the town hall. She pondered over a notebook and jotted down her thoughts as they came to mind.

As Hela’s thoughts raced and her pen danced throughout the page, Clair slipped through the crowd and made her way to stand at her captain’s side, “There’s nothing of interest within the upper districts. Were you able to find anything?” She mentioned briefly before carefully sitting herself down next to Hela.

“I think I’ve got a lead,” Hela answered with the end of her pen pressed against her bottom lip, “But I don’t want to be too hasty. I’d like to do a little more digging.” Hela continued to jot down notes as Clair peered over her shoulder for the gist of the information she had gathered. Before she could comment though, some footsteps grew closer, drawing Clair’s attention to a pair of guards approaching her and Hela.

One of the guards bowed to the both of them and spoke, “You two are the adventurers investigating the rumor of a crime ring around town, right?”  
“Yes, is something wrong?” Hela answered the guard without looking up from her notebook.

With Hela’s answer, the two guards looked at each other and shared in a silent understanding, “Well, we’re happy to report that the Rillian guard will be handling the investigation from this point forward. Your assistance was appreciated, though from here we will have this under control.” The guard placed his closed fist over his chest plate as a sign of his fealty.

“The offer is certainly appreciated, but I think we can handle this without trouble,” Hela appeared troubled but stood her ground regardless, “There’s no reason to raise a big fuss over something we have under control.”

The guard who had yet to speak stepped forward and spoke in a harsher tone than his partner, “This unfortunately isn’t up for debate. We’ve received orders that your involvement in the case must halt, it sadly has been considered a disturbance of peace.”

Clair stood up and stared down the guard with a glare as piercing as daggers, “Your orders won’t mean anything if The Alliance catches word you’re obstructing an investigation led by official guild affiliates,” Clair continued to step forward, causing the guards to step back from the frightening night elf, “Either you allow us do what we are authorized to do, or you’ll have far more than just two adventurers breathing down your neck. Your attempts to scare us out of our work is despicable, and you should be ashamed to even spout such nonsense.”

The guards seemingly cowered back from Clair as they considered their options, “So be it, we’ll send your response up the chain and inform them of your decision.” They left as quickly as they came, moving through the intrigued townsfolk who bore witness to the encounter that unfolded.

“The nerve of some people,” Clair mumbled under her breath, “This ignorance must be a common trait of these surface ones.”

“It definitely is peculiar of them,” Hela closed her notebook and stood up with her armor rattling as she rose, “Though it’s funny how just yesterday you were talking about how much I’ve changed. Yet it’s like you haven’t changed at all since the day I met you.”

Clair appeared perplexed at first but quickly recovered into a sly smile and proud posture, “Naturally, there’s no building on perfection after all.”

“That’s certainly what I meant,” Hela laughed to herself before opening up her notebook to show Clair the content, “Anyways, let’s go over what I have right now.”

  
_13 years ago_

 _  
__  
_ News of the crime organization that the guild had uncovered was circulating throughout Eil’Drawwt, wrapping the city in an air of tension yet also a hope that their life may change.

Hela looked out from the carriage she was seated in and saw this truth painted on the expressions of every citizen she passed by. Desperation and determination filled her heart as she knew that her hard work would soon pay off, a better Eil’Drawwt for everyone to live in, free of the iron grip of a shadowed conspirator.

Across from Hela, her partner Sirus flipped through the pages of Hela’s notebook, “The guild was only able to allot us so much time to investigate the Uri family manor,” He looked up from the notebook, his ocean blue eyes aimed towards Hela, “Are you certain we can uncover the truth in so little time?”

“All we can do is try,” Hela answered without turning her gaze away from the window, the view of the manor slowly came into view as the carriage approached its destination, “I know it sounds crazy, but I’m positive that the Uri family is close to the center of all of this. Their deep rooted connection with the humans and the surface as a whole make them a prime suspect to assist in these smuggling operations.”

“I know better than to doubt you when you sound crazy,” Sirus tossed the notebook back over to Hela, “Stick to that instinct and we may just come out on top here.”  
Hela briefly flipped through the fresh notebook, only a good first eighth was used up with the evidence she’d gathered throughout this investigation. She closed it back up and placed it in her pack as the carriage drew to a close. The doors were opened up by a mix of Drawwtian and Hidden Star guards, allowing Hela and Sirus to exit as they were guided to the entrance of the grand manor.

As the doors of the manor were opened to allow Hela and Sirus to enter, Hela turned her attention to one of the guards and inquired, “Is the Uri family still on the premises?”

“They’re currently separated and moved to effectively emptied rooms within the manor under close watch. There should be no interruptions for the investigation, Miss Krisofft.” The guard answered swiftly and without hesitation as he followed the adventurers into the grand entrance fall of the Uri estate.

“Good,” Sirus responded, “That leaves less of a chance that any evidence was tampered with. Lead the way Hela, you seem to have a good lead on the situation.” As he concluded, a faint sound of commotion was heard from the upper floor of the manor, the sound drew closer until one of the doors on a balcony bursted open with a small group pouring out of it.  
Leading the small crowd was a night elf woman in radiant white clothing that spoke volumes of her noble lineage. Her face was adorned in a thick mask of make up and yet it did little to hide her elvish youth. Her eyes were stuck in a fierce glare towards Hela and Sirus while she was followed by a nervous and frantic gathering of servants and guards seemingly trying to stop her from approaching.

The noblewoman stopped halfway down the stairs, “You two!” She called out with anger and pride in her voice, “Are you the adventurers wrongly convicting my family of such heinous crimes? You should both be ashamed of making such bold and baseless claims.” The guards and servants stood close to the woman, careful not to incur her wrath upon them instead.

“Great,” Sirus mumbled under his breath, “We don’t have time to deal with your ramblings, miss. Don’t interfere with the investigation.” He replied as he tried to wave off the encounter.   


“So you can plant false evidence to incriminate the proud Uri family?” The woman snapped back in response, “I know full well how you function, you have no intention of leaving empty handed. One way or another you plan to tear my family apart!”    


Hela was taken aback for a moment, she brought herself to interject, “Is that why you want to interrupt us? Just to make sure we do perform our work honestly?”   


The night elf from the Uri family turned her attention off Sirus to Hela, “Precisely, I know that my family would never betray the pride and prestige of our bloodline to pursue such foul and dishonest reward. I can’t allow this insult to go any further than it has already.”   


“If that’s the case. Then why don’t you accompany us in our investigation?” Hela’s face was painted with a rare smile as she made the offer.   


“You can’t be serious, Hela,” Sirus butted in with his voice twisted in annoyance, “She’s only going to slow us down and could even steer us away from the truth.”   


“She’s valiant at best, ignorant and unaware at worst. At the very least she can guide us through the manor,” Hela shot down Sirus’ complaints quickly and efficiently, “Miss Uri, we’ll be happy to accept your assistance as long as you make no attempts to deter us from our investigations.”    


Without a word, the night elf waved off the guards and servants surrounding her and descended the remainder of the stairs to stand on equal footing with Hela.   


“I guess there is such a thing as too crazy for you, Hela,” Sirus grumbled, “I’m going to split off to the west wing, I’ll meet you back here.” With his intentions stated, Sirus slipped past through a set of doors further into the manor with a pair of Hidden Star guards accompanying him.   


“Hmph, it’s good to see one of you has sense. Pray tell me your title so that I may share my own with you.” She spoke in a dignified manner that almost seemed unnatural.   


“Uh well, my name is Hela Krisofft, I guess I’m referred to as The Crimson Shield within the guild sometimes,” Hela responded as she flipped through her notes, “If you don’t mind, I’d actually like to know where to find the office of Uri’Mal.”   


“A pleasure to meet you, Lady Krisofft,” The woman bowed politely, “You may call me Uri’Clair. As for my uncle, I can show you where his office is, just know I’ll be watching for any sleight of hand.” Clair scolded as she began to guide Hela through her family’s manor.   


“Mal is your uncle?” Hela questioned as she followed Clair up to the 2nd floor of the manor, “I should tell you now that he’s the prime suspect for funding the smuggling operations in Eil’Drawwt. Is there anything you can tell me about him?”   


“Nothing of relevance to your fruitless search,” Clair retorted in a growl, “My uncle is a living pinnacle of good faith between the surface and Eil’Drawwt. There is no chance he would compromise such a relationship with petty greed.”   


“You sure have a lot of faith in your family,” Hela responded in a heavy sigh while they stopped outside Mal’s office. Clair opened the door and led the adventurer into the deserted office. Without hesitation, Hela went to work in search of the evidence she was expecting. With her notes to cross reference and after several minutes, she ended up checking a seemingly unused metal locker in the corner of the office.   


Hela pulled slightly at each of the handles of the locker doors until she reached the second from the bottom, where the door did not budge as if locked. Clair took notice of this and reached for a key on Mal’s main desk, “Here, you must’ve missed the key, it was right here.” Clair offered up the key to Hela.   


“Miss Clair, it’s locked from the inside. That key is just a distraction at most,” Hela ignored the offer and searched for any possible way to open the door, “Damn it! I’m going to need some tools to get this open.”   


Clair scowled and looked to the floor with mixed emotions conflicting within her, “Move, I’ll open it.” Clair ordered with annoyance in her voice as she laid her hand on the locker door. A bright yellow light beamed off her violet hand and filled the whole room with a brief flash of light. When the light faded away, a clean circle was carved into the door from Clair’s magic, revealing the contents of the locker to be a series of documents with strange markings on the folders.   


Hela’s heart stopped, she was left speechless as she was face to face with the last piece to the puzzle. She delicately grabbed at the documents and pulled them out of the makeshift door that Clair provided. A brief run through the contents was all Hela needed to know that she finally caught the source of all the pain that her city had been put through.   


“What is it?” Clair asked with worry wracked into her usually composed voice, “What does all of that mean? Tell me!”   


“It means a lot of things, but most importantly it means that Mal is one of the funders that kept the smuggling operations running. With just these documents, all those responsible can be identified.” Hela was left in a moment of pure bliss, her dream was so close to being realized. She was about to see Eil’Drawwt change for the better right before her eyes.  
Her celebrations were cut short as she noticed the door swing open and she was now left alone. The faint sound of footsteps rushing down the halls slowly echoed out of earshot to Hela.  


“Miss Clair?” Hela called out with her grip still tight on the evidence, she left the room and saw Clair in a frantic march further into the manor where the other family members were being kept in solitude, “Wait! Clair!” Hela held the documents firmly and rushed after Clair.

Clair rushed into a room at the end of the hall, a handful of guards stood watch as an older night elf sat casually at a chair facing a window leading out to the rest of Eil’Drawwt.   


“How could you!?” She stomped up to her uncle with her voice raised and face burning with anger.   


The night elf calmly turned his attention to his niece, “Clair? What are you going on about?”   


“Don’t play dumb with me! Those adventurers found what you’ve been doing. How could you betray our family like this? Sully our honor and spit on our legacy!?”  As Clair continued to loose her anger, the guards grew uneasy and shifted, ready to take action. In the middle of her fury, Hela caught up to the scene with the evidence on hand.   


Uri’Mal looked to Hela below the door frame and saw the documents clenched in her grip, “I see,” He looked to the guards and gave a nod, “I’ll go quietly, I will disclose my case in trial.”    


“Why won’t you answer me!?” Clair continued to lash out, she stood mere inches from Mal, “Are you so pathetic that you won’t answer for yourself!?”   


“Clair, shut up. Save this discussion for another day.” Mal coldly remarked as he interrupted his niece. He walked past her with no intention of dealing with her.   


“No! I’m not going to let you push me aside-” Clair continued to scream at him when Mal raised his hand in one lashing motion and struck his niece causing Clair to fall to the floor with a thud.   


“Miss Clair!” Hela pushed aside the guards and helped Clair up, “Are you ok?” The room was wrapped in a panic, but Hela couldn’t focus on anything but the tears and anguish on Clair’s face. Guilt crawled down Hela’s back in a way she never felt before. She used her, and dragged her into a situation she shouldn't have been involved in.   


“Don’t touch me,” Clair choked out through tears as she desperately held onto what pride she still had, “I’m fine. Just, go away and arrest him.”    


Before Hela could respond, Sirus pushed through the crowd as the room was being emptied, “Hela! What happened, I heard the commotion and saw Mal in binds-” He stopped himself when he saw the situation.   


Hela felt disconnected from reality but she brought herself to speak, “Here’s the evidence, I’ll rejoin you when I’ve helped her.” Hela set the documents off to the ground in front of Sirus and stayed at Clair’s side.   


Sirus swiftly scooped up the documents, “This isn’t the time to delay, we have all the evidence and need to report everything now. Just leave her for the servants to take care of.” Hela looked to Sirus with a murderous look in her eyes. Taking the hint, Sirus shook his head and decided to do as she said, “Whatever, I’ll meet you at the guild.”   


The room was emptied save for Hela and Clair, “Krisofft, can you promise me something?” Clair said as she sat up, careful not to look Hela in the eyes, “I want him to pay for what he’s done to my family. Can you promise that he’ll pay for his actions?”   


Hela was left speechless for a moment as she decided how to respond, she stood up and offered a hand out to Clair to help her up, “I’ll do everything in my power to assure justice is done, I can promise that.” 

With a moment of hesitation, Clair took Hela’s hand and stood up with her. Hela felt an aching pain eating away at her. Her desire for justice that kept her going all this time was now only an afterthought to making sure those who were truly innocent remained safe. She looked to Clair, still staring off, desperately not making eye contact, and saw someone truly wronged not just by what Hela sought to stop, but also Hela’s actions.   


That pain that Hela felt, she wanted to know how to fix it. How to help people without harming others. A need that she wanted to fulfill so badly, and yet it felt so far out of reach.   


All she could do now though, was pray she could find that path.


End file.
